Altdorfer, Albrecht

Samson and Delilah (Judges 16:19)

Within a landscape setting, Samson lies asleep with his head upon
Delilah's lap while she, holding the scissors with which she will cut
his hair and deprive him of his strength, gestures towards the
soldiers in the background who wait to arrest him (Judges 13:16). This
autonomous drawing on colored ground is one of four by Altdorfer dated
1506. The fine pen work is characteristic of his early drawings. This
drawing is annotated with an unusual, Italianate form of Altdorfer's
name, also seen on two other drawings of early date,
Witches Sabbath
and
Allegory with Pax and Minerva,
both of which show the influence of
Mantegna's
designs. This Italianism has been taken as evidence for
a trip to Italy, though no such trip is documented.